Introducing the Culture Amp Foundation
The Culture Amp Foundation is where what we do as an organization meets who we are as an organization.
— Didier ElzingaCo-Founder and CEO of Culture Amp and Chair of the Culture Amp FoundationToday, we're excited to officially launch The Culture Amp Foundation with the mission of making a better world of work more attainable!
There comes a time when every organization must decide how it wants to leave a lasting, positive impact on the world beyond the products it offers. For Culture Amp, that day is today. When Didier extended the invitation to have me, Chess Jakobs, be the inaugural leader of the Culture Amp Foundation, I felt some hesitation.
Then I remembered what it was like to be a customer of Culture Amp and how much care, effort, and time this organization puts into its endeavors. If they decided to expand their social impact efforts, I knew it was a moment I wanted to be a part of.
Why The Culture Amp Foundation?
Following the general question of "Why would Culture Amp have a foundation?" and the clear answer being "because it's the right thing to do," we asked ourselves more specific, thought-provoking questions:
- Why would we begin this adventure amid the current economic uncertainty?
- What cause(s) and/or region(s) do we wrap ourselves around?
- How can we make a difference that is transformational rather than transactional?
- How do we engage in social impact from the perspective of power with our beneficiaries rather than power over?
- Who will determine whether our philanthropic resources are being used effectively?
The deeper we dove into these questions, and the more employees, customers, and partners we engaged in our strategic planning process, the more apparent it became that the traditional corporate philanthropy strategies differed from the direction we wanted to go. We wanted to:
- Think beyond crisis-response donations.
- Make it clear to the organizations we support that they can call on us.
- Facilitate meaningful relationships between our employees and the organizations we support.
- Center Culture Amp’s purpose: to make a better world of work.
Our mission was right there before us - to make a better world of work more attainable. Then, we built the Culture Amp Foundation’s 360 Social Impact Strategy to achieve that mission.
Culture Amp Foundation’s 360 Strategy
The Culture Amp Foundation’s 360 Strategy enables us to build long-term, mutually beneficial, and multi-purpose relationships with non-profit organizations that impact the world.
Contribution
Our monetary grants are gifted to organizations that focus on making a better world of work more attainable.
Our first Culture Amp Foundation Grant Recipient is Indigitek. By 2025, STEM jobs will comprise 75% of the Australian workforce. While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people only make up 3% of the Australian population, they make up nearly 0% of tech industry workers. Indigitek is at the forefront of developing the next generation of Aboriginal STEM professionals. You can learn more about their work here.
Collective Action
Culture Amp now offers several discounts and grants, including a 35% discount for qualifying non-profits and a 10% discount for B Corps. As a part of our anti-racism commitments, we also offer the following additional benefits:
- Free software up to $25,000 through the Kevin Wiggins Racial Justice Grant
- 38% discount to recognize the wage gap for Black women through our Black and Indigenous-owned Business Discount Program
Camper Activation
Employees at Culture Amp, called Campers, are encouraged to be invested in their community through skills-based and general volunteering, supported by five Social Impact days for each Camper annually. We also provide donation-matching dollars for their employees to utilize annually. For crisis response, those donations are generally tripled.
Community and Advocacy
Social Impact cannot and should not be an individual endeavor. We are proud to be a builder company with Pledge 1% and a registered B-Corp. Through community building and partnerships, our Foundation team will elevate organizations and causes globally to help support the work needed to make a better world of work more attainable.
Looking onward
Today, we move forward knowing that a better world and world of work is not just a mission but a shared responsibility. Culture Amp Foundation’s 360 Strategy is not just a set of initiatives but a commitment to building relationships beyond transactional giving. By focusing on contribution, collective action, camper activation, and community advocacy, we aim to enable increased impact through multiple pathways.
At Culture Amp, we give back, not up. The world of work can and will be better. Our foundation will make that better world of work more attainable, and we look forward to sharing our impact with you in the future.
